This invention relates to a nose pad for a spectacle frame and is of the type which comprises a hard base body made of a synthetic material or metal and a covering made of a skin-friendly and anti-slip material. The base body has a portion which projects from the covering and forms securing means for attaching the nose pad to the spectacle frame.
Nose pads of the above-outlined type wherein the securing means is a block-like pin which is coupled by means of a screw or detent mechanism with a stem arm (which, in turn, is connected with the front piece of the spectacle frame) are widely available on the market.
German Offenlegungsschrift 3,319,827 describes a nose flank support pad which may also find application in plastic spectacle frames. The pad described therein is a one-piece component made of silicone rubber and may be, by means of a lug and a locking mechanism, "buttoned" to a throughgoing opening in the front piece (that is, the portion of the spectacle frame which holds the lenses). The throughgoing opening is a slot and is entirely filled by the lug of the pad so that the locking mechanism mounted at the end of the lug engages behind the front piece. To provide such an elongated opening (slot) is a simple matter only in those plastic spectacle frames which are manufactured by an injection molding process.
Spectacle frames, however, which are made by milling synthetic plates rather than by injection molding, gain in popularity. While spectacle frames made in this manner have, during manufacture, a greater percentage of waste than those made in an injection molding process, their configurational variety is significantly greater. It will be readily understood that a longitudinal throughgoing slot is much more difficult to provide in synthetic plates than in an injection molding process where such a slot is obtained by appropriately shaping the die for the spectacle frame. Consequently, prior art nose pads are preponderantly used in spectacle frames which are made by an injection molding process.
Because of the extremely soft synthetic material of a one-piece pad of the prior art, risks are high that the pad shifts in the longitudinal hole or even becomes unintentionally "unbuttoned" therefrom because of the high degree of compressibility which is inherent in the soft synthetic material. Consequently, the holding arrangement of the pad in the longitudinal slot provided in the front piece does not reliably prevent the extremely soft pad from shifting or rotating relative to the front piece.
It is a further disadvantage of prior art arrangements that the locking mechanism which engages behind the front piece, projects into the lens zone of the spectacles which, particularly for certain spectacle colors, adversely affects the aesthetic appearance of the eyeglasses.
The extremely soft material of the prior art pads, even if it proved to be very advantageous to the wearer because of its supporting properties and comfort, is far from being satisfactory as concerns the safety and reliability of securing the pad to the spectacle frame.